Philadelphia Flyers interim coach Mike Yeo will not be the team’s head coach next season, general manager Chuck Fletcher announced Tuesday.
Yeo, 48, went 17-36-7 behind the Flyers’ bench this season, as Philadelphia failed to make the postseason cut for the second straight season. Yeo had previously been a head coach with the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues.
Yeo was named interim coach after the Flyers fired coach Alain Vigneault on Dec. 6, 2021. That followed a 7-1 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning that extended the team’s winless streak to eight. The Flyers were 8-10-4 that season under Vigneault, who was in his third season in Philadelphia.
Fletcher said that he’d like to keep Yeo with the Flyers organization in another role, saying his knowledge base is valuable to the team.
“Mike and I will continue to discuss that. But he’s free to speak to other teams,” Fletcher said.
The Flyers last made the playoffs in 2020, in Vigneault’s first season.
Fletcher said the Flyers’ hockey operations department will begin the process of finding a new head coach this week.
“We’re going to put together an ideal candidate profile. At this stage all options are open. Once we build that candidate profile, we’ll start reaching out to candidates,” he said. “Clearly, we have to drill down on what we’re looking for.”
Fletcher said the Flyers are “aware of the calendar” but wouldn’t put a timeline on hiring a head coach.
The Flyers were among the NHL’s most disappointing teams this season. Fletcher added several veteran players last offseason, including defenseman Ryan Ellis, who was limited to just four games due to injury. The general manager has talked about an “aggressive retool” in this offseason, a retooling that will now include a new head coach.